Masterpieces of the 21st century

[hellboy76]

91's or higher (not including stand up or shorts:

Spirited Away (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
WALL·E (2008)
Children of Men (2006)
Django Unchained (2012)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Unbreakable (2000)
Downfall (2004)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Man on Wire (2008)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Up (2009)
Adaptation. (2002)

[djross]

x

[TrixRabbi]

I guess I'll just post my own:

Punch Drunk-Love (2002)
Spring Breakers (2013)
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007)
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Hunger (2008)
Shame (2011)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Dogtooth (2010)
A Serious Man (2009)
Lost in Translation (2003)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Act of Killing (2013)
Drive (2011)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

[MmzHrrdb]

All movies I've ranked 85+ are "favorites," so I'll draw from that pool:

Title (ranking)
Moneyball (99)*
Memento (95)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (85)
Kingdom of Heaven (85)

*One of my ten favorite movies of all time!

Hmmm...that's a pretty short list. Granted, my Criticker rankings only represent what I've watched since the middle of November 2011.

[Proximity]

I've got:
Inglourious Basterds (96)
No Country for Old Men (94)
Children of Men (93)
The Turin Horse (91)
Mulholland Dr. (91)
Pan's Labyrinth (91)

but I rate films above 90 when I consider them among my favorite favorites. It's not really a measure of whether or not a film is a masterpiece (there are some I have rated lower than these films that I consider masterpieces).

[snallygaster]

Adapting djross's standards (top 90 of 2900 = top 3.1% = masterpiece. Hey, my cutoff score is 91 too!) gives me fourteen 21st-century masterpieces -- more than I expected. However, I must say that some of these are films I wouldn't normally consider masterpieces -- more "personal favourites":

No Country for Old Men (2007)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Primer (2004)
Water (2005)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Poetry (2010)
Summer Hours (2008)
The Taste of Tea (2004)
The World (2004)
25th Hour (2002)
Sexy Beast (2001)

[LEAVES]

My Criticker scores don't represent my true feelings. I don't even know how they got there. Larvae and pigs, probably.

At any rate, I've seen most of the films listed by others, and I, like everyone else, have different opinions. I've seen a few obscure films that others may not have, and some more popular films more acutely align with my tastes and preferences than they do with others, etc. In the end, all I can say to justify the list is that it just feels right.

Songs from the Second Floor - The world is always ending in the movies, but rarely so benignly, and in a benign collapse the showcase is not on the heroic individual's likely futile accomplishments but on the absurd assault on meaninglessness - plus a dollop of additional craziness for good measure. Incomparable!

(Also: Absolutely Absurd - The Temptation of St. Tony, Werckmeister Harmonies)

Marseille - ...and here in functioning society-ville comes a portrait of human experience unparalleled since walls were first invented. Capturing is the word to use here, whether it is in the images snapped by the protagonist or the extended fragile moments which leave you holding your breath for fear of shattering them, or it is the latter half's prismatic focus on other sides of the means of living life, or finally in the coda's entrancing exhibition of self-assertion, crisply framed by a stark ellipsis and followed by an inconclusive landscape of, well, Marseille. It is certainly not a complete picture of any human life, but it spans the intimate details and the broad brute facts and the ineffable desires inside a structure which plants a healthy seed, enriches the soil, and rains down sustenance on the viewer. Or bores the hell out of the viewer, it all depends. For those on the wrong side it's sure to be masterfully boring, I will concede that point. (In some circles this is an obvious choice, in others it's ridiculously obscure - which is a crime. Petzold be damned.)

(Also: German Grrrrlz- The Days Between, Everyone Else)

Le Quattro Volte - It just has to be. That dog, that goat, that tree, that tree - do you know what I mean? It's all just charcoal in the end.

(Also: Sacred Simplicity - Times and Winds, The Sky, the Earth, and the Rain)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - This is me trying to acknowledge the extreme dedication in form and mis en scene to the arhythmic cadence of the film's jokes, and in doing so all I really have to say is that this is the spiritual successor to Songs from the Second Floor, only the songs aren't as good.

(Also: Fitfully Fulfilling - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Wolf of Wall Street)

Goodbye First Love - Because young love is not a joke, except when you stop laughing. But mostly because every sad moment is heartwarming, every romantic moment is awkward, every lonely moment comforting, every missed opportunity so fortuitous. Truly, truly, truly my favorite romance, even though there really isn't any. A stream of perfect moments, it would take longer to describe them all than for you to watch. Again and again.

(Also: Love...ly, Lovely - Before Sunset, All the Real Girls)

Subtle Black Comedy Corner: La Ciénaga, Time Out, Late Marriage
So As Not To Forget: Enter the Void, Nobody Knows, Elephant

Unfortunately I only ever made it through about 1/10th of the 21st century films I had planned on, so this list could surely have been so many times better. But it's still lovely, I want to watch them all, and have recently, for the most part. Again and again!

[VinegarBob]

I guess a masterpiece for me would be ones that score a perfect 100. From 2000 onwards that would mean:

Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
The White Ribbon (2009)

[MmzHrrdb]

Apocalypto (2006)
The Isle (2000)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
Okuribito aka Departures (2008)
Oldboy (2003)
Raavan (2010)
Hwal aka The Bow (2005)
Far North (2007)
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)

[Neonman]

I don't know what a masterpiece is, but here are some films that I really liked from this century so far (in some sort of order).

There Will Be Blood
The Pianist
Irreversible
Punch-Drunk Love
The Departed
Zero Day
Zodiac
Dancer in the Dark
Synecdoche, NY
Russian Ark